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Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
Harry Potter fan fiction (I know, isn't it awful!), available at http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2269863/Less_Wrong. "Petunia married a professor, and Harry grew up reading science and science fiction. Then came the Hogwarts letter..." http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2269863/Less_Wrong. Journal 26/08/11 I came across it on the 19th of August 2010 when a guest blogger posted a few random sci-fi related links on one of my feeds. Read Chapter 25 first I think, and was immediately delighted, intrigued and soon hooked. I'd never read fanfiction before and couldn't imagine that even if there were good ones it's feasible (or worthwhile) to find them amongst the rubbish, so it was intriguing to find this elaborate yarn spun on the pretty basic premise of Harry Potter being fiendishly rational and scientific and how the fictional world of J. K. Rowling would look from that perspective. After reading as far as the author has written (up to Chapter 41) in a week I found myself scoffing at Gryffindor, thinking Rowling was a bit harsh on Slytherin, and of course that Ravenclaw is THE HOUSE for me (although I think I recall a quiz telling me that anyway once)! It was absolutely fantastic, enthralling, made me laugh aloud at times. I got incredibly frustrated at other times to be fair, when characters endorse points of view that seems foreign to me but by far on the whole it's been very refreshing. Reading Record Previous book: [[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory|Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]] Next book: [[The Case of the Pope|Geoffrey Robertson, The Case of the Pope]] 08/09/2010 Happy birthday me! Chapter 42 came out a while ago and Chapters 43-46 came out together recently. That was one awesome collection of Chapters, called Humanism 1-4, in which Harry deconstructs the dementors and defeats one. One of those tingly moments when you lose control of your facial muscles to a huge grin while you read it. I really love this series and look forward to reading more! 26/09/2010 Chapter 47 came out yesterday. Apparently two weeks is a long time to wait for a new chapter, judging by reviews and comments, but I don't mind. It was very good, a long discussion between Harry and Draco. 26/10/2010 Well we're up to chapter 54 now, with the last four chapters having come out this last weekend. I'm missing the joviality and lightness of the early chapters, the story's becoming rather focused and serious and not always clear. What happened to Harry's determination to do science to magic, to figure it out? He's been using it for awhile without batting an eyelid, despite the implications that originally staggered him. Like what does the Bag of Holding look like to Quirrel when he's inside it? Just curious. 1/11/2010 Chapters 55 and 56: Interesting. Amelia Bones is refreshing, Harry's escape from despair was good, Dumbledore was intriguing. The current plot thread is becoming worthwhile. 7/11/2010 Chapters 57 and 58. I liked these ones, the drawing out of what Harry had transfigured was a bit cheesy :P but I liked seeing him working, and thinking, and Quirrel had some interesting things to say. 25/11/2010 Chapters 59-61. I read chapter 59 a while ago, and 60 a few days ago. They were pretty crap, I just didn't know what was going on anymore and thought Harry and Quirrell's conversation was dire. 61 came out tonight and it was much better :) 29/11/2010 Chapters 62 and 63: Getting a bit heavy and depressing. I disagree with some of Harry's conclusions (regarding, for instance, the 3/40 people in the Milgram experiment) and with some of his preoccupations (for instance, getting all heavy and worried about identities). We'll see how it goes, but I miss the earlier on lightness and fun and clarity and science. 14/1/2011 Chapters 64 and 65 came out like a week ago, and 66 and 67 today. Nothing impressive, but not every chapter has to be. Quirrell's idea of Harry pretending to defeat a returned Voldemort was so neatly beyond the moral horizon that I thought it was stupid that Harry didn't reject it outright. EDIT September 2011: Reread these chapters to catch up with the Self-actualization sequence and I've changed my mind - it was a pretty analytically sensible solution along the lines that these people tend to explore when looking for one. 28/1/2011 Chapter 68 came out a few days ago and 69 just now, quite liked where it ended up :) Bit more optimistic now about the brightness/silliness/light-heartedness of the series. 18/08/2011 It's been frickin ages since an update (I think he's working on his book on rationality), I was just going over my wiki migrating to a new rating system when I checked this page and realised it's a year tomorrow since I started reading it! It seems like so much longer!! 01/09/2011 Well lar dee dar, but he just updated the story with several chapters and an explanation that he wanted to finish writing the current sequence before he published any more so he could get it out at a less drawn-out pace, for our sanity! (Also I'd forgotten but I read several chapters since my January update above and was delaying updating until enough chapters had come out, and then it never happened so I forgot...). So we're up to chapter 75 currently and he has two or three more written I believe, which will be released every few days from now. This "Self-actualization" sequence is really confusing me. I just don't know what the point of it is, where it's going, and why Yudkowsky is devoting so many chapters to it. It's kinda boring me in a way. The older, one-off chapters and shorter sequences worked better. Then again, it may be the phenomenon of reading a lot of fic that was written before you heard about it and reading each chapter as it's published, hungry for gold-dust. With that in mind, the '''rational thing to do would be to stop reading the fic for a few years :P As it currently stands, anyway, I'm more happy about the latest developments than I was feeling a few chapters back. Just curious to see where it ends up now. And I noticed it's March in the fic and I can't remember when Christmas happened - is he skipping forward to get the end of the year for the finale perhaps? 05/09/2011 Chapter 76 was awesome! Apparently (reading his author notes) Chapter 74 was supposed to be some sort of Crowning Chapter of AwesomeI wrote this based on the author's notes at the time, I think, but I just noticed he's mentioned it again - Sep 14th '11 authors notes, he's complaining that it's hard to write when he's always criticising himself and says: "I mean, there are parts that I know are good, like Ch. 74, I'm not dumb". Yeeaah..., but I really didn't get that at all. So he had a character do some ritual with as many secret references to other works as he could squeeze in. Lar dee dar... But this chapter (which apparently he doesn't think is that well written) was really awesome, Harry giving Dumbledore what for and standing up for his old philosophies again, and Hermione being harassed by some mysterious figure with Groundhog Day powers XD 07/09/2011 Chapter 77 out. Very interesting! Bit of insight into Snape, but more significantly the MoR!prophecy has been brought into some light. 21/09/2011 No new chapter out yet (although his original plan was for the 13th), but that's fine. I've been reading it again from the beginning, on-and-off, since Bromyard. Currently at Chapter 17. It's really good to read it again from the start, the early chapters have a nostalgia now, it's been so long and I've read so much of the fic! I've set up this page to have a "Live Journal" section (this one) in which I'll keep a chronological diary of my thoughts on the fic, and a new "Thoughts By Chapter" section in which I'll maintain a review of each chapter, or sequence, taking into account all of my readings of it and other chapters. Major thoughts from rereading the early chapters: I miss the quotes at the beginning of the chapters (often quotes from the next, at-the-time-unpublished, chapter)! Chapter reviews Chapter 1 (A Day of Very Low Probability) 21/09/11: Well I started reading from the beginning again at Bromyard 2011 (I was fiddling with my new Kindle and this was one of the few things I managed to get on it). Chapter 17 (Locating the Hypothesis) Rating and awards My overall rating (so far): 3 =References=